Defending against Mold in Rain Collectors?

[czenzel]

Hello everyone,

I am having problems with mold in my weather station every few months. Does anybody have a good defense method to prevent mold in the rain collector of a Weather Station?

I missed two good rain storms for data collection and was wondering if there is a solution or a temporary solution for mold building up in the rain collector and stopping the rain from successfully getting through the collector.

My weather station is the Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus Wireless.

Thanks,
Christopher Zenzel

 

[Jason Foster]

Where is the mold collecting, on the titter totter on the inside, or on the bucked/funnel?

I would suspect a dissolved bleach & water mix sprayed oh...weekly would take care of it.

 

[czenzel]

It's inside the bucket and it's blocking the hole for the rain collection. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Doug Ott]

Yuck. Probably the black stuff too. I have used bleech before, and it works to remove it. I would also try chlorine. They make a product called Kilz, that may be effective an effective way. Although never used it before, so don t know if it works or not. If your bucket is plastic it ll grow fast in there. Even a painted metal bucket would grow lots of mold. I am just wondering know, if I have ever seen mold grow or stick to stainless steel. Be little expensive, but if it worked and you never had this headache again it would be worth the money. You would probably have to talk to someone with more knowledge on mold about how to treat it and get rid of it. Your best bet though, till you find an answer, would be find a way to keep that bucket and the mechanisms inside it as dry as you possibly can. Good luck in finding a solution.

 

[Doug Ott]

Just another thought. Is there a little lip at the bottom of drain hole? If there is that would be a big problem. Or, any place that you could see water setting on for a period of time. I m not too familiar with your station, I am just trying to think of possible places or ways that a few drops of water would not drain out.

 

[czenzel]

Yuck. Probably the black stuff too. I have used bleech before, and it works to remove it. I would also try chlorine. They make a product called Kilz, that may be effective an effective way. Although never used it before, so don t know if it works or not. If your bucket is plastic it ll grow fast in there. Even a painted metal bucket would grow lots of mold. I am just wondering know, if I have ever seen mold grow or stick to stainless steel. Be little expensive, but if it worked and you never had this headache again it would be worth the money. You would probably have to talk to someone with more knowledge on mold about how to treat it and get rid of it. Your best bet though, till you find an answer, would be find a way to keep that bucket and the mechanisms inside it as dry as you possibly can. Good luck in finding a solution.

Thanks. I'll check about the stainless steal, but I may stick to the chlorine or bleach approach.

 

[john.sibley]

I have something better. It's called "Goldshield" we use in the Army. It's a great product cause it kills everything and works for a month. PM me if you want the vendor info.

 

[czenzel]

Has anybody checked out this site?

http://tobaccovilleweather.com/about.htm

If you scroll down they have made a homemade debris filter with a fine mesh strainer (of stainless steel).

Think it might work to block some of the stuff that blows into the collector that could be forming the mold?